Sunday, January 14, 2018

Christmas Recap

We had a fun time over the Christmas and New Years holiday!  Lots of celebrating with family!!

Some pictures....we celebrated Christmas early Saturday (Vikings game day!) Obviously our family was decked out in purple to cheer on the Vikings!






These 3 goofballs had a good time with Grandma!



Silly faces!

And then we brought out the Christmas photo props for some fun!





Second Christmas of the season was with my dad (Christmas Eve morning) and we were able to wear our Christmas apparel!  We also celebrated Papa Gary's birthday - Kaila made a cake, which Lexi was very excited to sneak frosting from!


 A picture of the cake with the birthday guy and the grandkids.  Lexi's face is hilarious!!
We had brunch and then opened gifts....




 Patiently waiting her turn...

And helping Papa with his gifts too....

We actually headed back home on Christmas Eve afternoon.  We got home about 5ish, so we unloaded the truck and ate dinner (pizza from Kwik Trip!!!) and then I prepped our Christmas morning breakfast, made cookies for Santa and then we opened our gifts.  It was a BUSY day, but we were happy to sleep at home waiting for Santa to come!!

Santa cookies - we went with the reindeer cookies again....


Ella's big gift from us came in a giant box!


Bean bag!

Ella got the plate ready for Santa.  She left cookies and milk for Santa and oats for the reindeer
(it was cold so she put a note for Santa to bring the oats to the reindeer! LOL!

Christmas Day
We started the morning with Santa gifts and our breakfast, then watched the Christmas parade! We were able to spend the entire day at home, which was a nice way to spend the day!



 Ella's haul from Santa: flip-a-zoo, slippers, comfy socks, Kids Bop CD, Shopkins shower gel,
Shopkins, bath bomb fizz and some other fun Santa stuff!

In other fun news, cousin Chase told us about the Elf Yourself app which was a super fun way to spend some time during the day!  We had a lot of fun with it!

Here's a snap shot of Ella and Chase from one of the videos we made!

We gifted Ella a portable CD player so she was hanging out building a new puzzle
while jamming out to her new Kids Bop cd

 Best thing about hanging out at home on Christmas day! 
Yummy afternoon snacks!

Jay and Ella hung out most of the week between Christmas and New Years, but we got out as a family for a few dinners (pretty lax about eating at home during winter break)
 One night we were out for Mexican and my chip seemed to be the State of MN!  LOL!

Also had a lunch at Carbone's - Ella and Jay are OBSESSED with the claw machines...



 Ella and I made paper cranes from an origami book from the library. 
It was confusing at first, but fun when we got the hang of it!

And then it was New Years Eve!
Again, it was FREEZING outside.  Ella and I made cinnamon rolls that we enjoyed for breakfast
and shared with some neighbors


Hung out most of the rest of the day and watch the Vikings game. 
We did head out in the cold to grab an early dinner and a few items from Target for the festivities we had on New Years Day!


It was wild at our house NYE - we played Watch Ya Mouth - it was awesome!  So funny!
Obviously we had to get a selfie of us in our mouthpieces!! HA!


The final Christmas celebration was New Years Day with Jay's family...I guess I didn't really take any pictures!  I have a few, but not many.  Shoot....


Later at home, Ella was able to open a gift from Grandma Jolyn and Papa Paul....

 
Clothes for her doll!  She was pumped!
She was also gifted some money for Christmas so she headed out shopping and chose a new doll with a sleepover set!  She has been having loads of fun playing with the dolls


It was a fun Christmas and New Years season!

Monday, December 25, 2017

December Happenings!

Besides Smurf Elf visits, we have been busy in December....

Checking out local businesses and finding some cool holiday decorations along the way!


Drinking hot cocoa!

Building the chocolate cookie tree from Smurf Elf!

As a family, we have started what we hope will be a new tradition for us.  The first annual Cozy Cocoa Christmas Cruise!  We had to wear PJs, get hot chocolate from somewhere, and cruise around to check out Christmas lights!  We had a good time!

 Evidence of our festive Christmas outfits!



Ella participated in the church Christmas program!

 Can you spot her? 
We didn't sit on the right side of the sanctuary so it was really hard to get a picture of her!!



Grandma Jolyn and Papa Paul were able to join us for the program so we took a group picture afterwards!

At school, there was a week of folk dancing for the kiddos, and the third graders with parents/family were invited to a family dance night....



Good times...Ella LOVED it.


Again this year, Ella participated in the Kid Connection lip sync holiday concert. 
This year she was performing with some besties...




We have been busy making and decorating Christmas cookies!


Weekend before Christmas visit from Grandma Deb & Randy for the Winter Dance Show!








I have no idea how she got so grown up!  
The 'tude is real. LOL!


AND THEN IT IS CHRISTMAS!!!  
I'll update the blog soon with some pictures from the various Christmas celebrations!
Merry Christmas!